A GAME against Portsmouth might not see football back with an obvious bang at Goodison Park on Saturday after a fortnight's break.

A GAME against Portsmouth might not see football back with an obvious bang at Goodison Park on Saturday after a fortnight's break.

Harry Redknapp's make-do-and-mend outfit, for all the torment they have inflicted upon Liverpool this season, is hardly a fixture to stir the blood.

But it needs to. David Moyes, (left), wasn't talking cliches this week when he told the ECHO that this is a big game for Everton with vital points at stake.

Moyes might not have been around to see or feel for himself the trauma of Everton's relegation battles in 1994 and 1998. But rest assured those fans who have taken him to their hearts over the past two years have let him know it was sheer bloody agony. And pleaded with him to spare them such torture ever again.

The message has clearly been received and understood by the Blues boss, who knows a passionate and determined performance to secure victory on Saturday will probably ensure Everton and their supporters can breathe much easier.

The pundits and the neutrals might love it when they can hitch a semi-detached ride on rollercoaster cup games or see relegation battles go down to the wire.

But true fans caught up in it all hate it at the time.

That Wimbledon game which saw Everton 2-0 down and staring lower flight football in the face is now famously recalled as one of the most dramatic days in living memory at Goodison.

But for those Blues present or tuned in to their radios, it was almost too much to bear.

The last time Everton flirted with relegation against Coventry City on the final day of the season was similarly traumatic. The ECHO's picture at the end of one middle-aged fan, crying like a little baby with the upset of the whole business, summed it up perfectly...

No more of this will do very nicely, thank-you.

All the other emotions which we feel when our clubs come that close to football failure are the reasons why Everton's players should heed their manager's words of wisdom right now.

In 48 hours they can surely do something to spare the Goodison faithful from a night-mare they never thought they'd see under a talented young manager doing his utmost for them in trying financial times. Every Evertonian will be praying they take the chance.